MTA approves cuts, West Hempstead loses weekend service

    Come fall, West Hempstead commuters can wave goodbye to weekend service on the Long Island Rail Road.
    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board voted on March 24 to make its proposed service cuts official. Board members approved a plan that calls for the elimination of weekend service on the West Hempstead branch of the LIRR and scaled-back service throughout its Long Island Bus operation.
    West Hempstead’s 8:28 a.m. weekday train to Atlantic Terminal, which had been on the chopping block, was eliminated, but replaced with an 8:55 a.m. train.
    “Naturally, I’m very disappointed and outraged at the [way] the commuters from West Hempstead are being treated,” said Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support and Civic Associations. “Weekend service would have been saved if the MTA decided they would seriously look at areas which have been reduced without sacrificing or severely impacting other branches of the LIRR.”
    According to the MTA, proposals were approved or modified with commuter input in mind: The board said it heard more than 500 people at its nine public hearings, and received 7,100 e-mails and 110,000 letters and signed petitions.
    “The extent of our deficit requires that most of the cuts move ahead, but we listened to our customers and made changes where we could,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder said in a statement. “We were able to take a number of cuts off the table, but, unfortunately, many of the cuts moving ahead will be painful.”
    To fill a nearly $800 million budget shortfall for 2010, the MTA proposed major cuts across the board that will include laying off personnel, consolidating functions, reducing overtime costs and wiping out some services. The service reductions will save $93 million a year, according to the MTA.
    For Norton, the agency’s actions were infuriating. “It is hard to believe that the MTA would consider eliminating weekend service in one of the most highly automobile-congested areas in Nassau County,” she said.